10 WWE Superstars You Never Knew Wrestled In Japan
8. Brock Lesnar
Before signing with the WWE for a record $250,000 per year development deal in 2000 the NCAA Heavyweight Champion was the subject of an intense bidding war between WWE, WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The crumbling WCW and waning New Japan were unable to secure Lesnars signature at the time but after leaving the WWE in 2004 and failing to make it as an NFL player (Lesnar was cut from the Minnesota Vikings practice team) NJPW finally got their man. The beast incarnate spent a little under a year between October 2005 to July 06 working in the main events of the bigger New Japan shows. The potential for fresh matches and the expectation of big box-office numbers came with Lesnars signing. Unfortunately for Lesnar and New Japan, the organisation was in rough shape after years of mismanagement and failing to create new stars and Lesnar did not have the desired impact on business. Despite winning the prestigious IWGP world heavyweight title in his first match at the Toyko Dome Lesnar phoned in most of his performances in lacklustre matches to the tune of $50,000 per match. Lesnar, who at the time was embroiled in a lawsuit with WWE over the contents of his no-compete clause, renamed the F5 The Verdict as a message to WWEs legal team. The Lesnar/New Japan relationship came to an end when New Japan failed to send Lesnar a working visa in time for a title defence and they stripped him of the championship. This was New Japans way of severing ties with Lesnar and trying to save face after dishing out substantial amounts of money for little return. He never worked for the company again and began pursuing another career in MMA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihswwqHL9kc
